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May 20, 2009 by Travis Jonker

Terrible, Terrible Books

May 20, 2009 by Travis Jonker   13 comments

Have you had enough of all these “good” books? You know, the ones that are all well written, nicely illustrated, and up to date? Because everywhere I go and in everything I read, that’s what I see. Best Books of the Year, Recommended Books, Starred Books, it’s about time we started tipping the scales back in the other direction. With books like this:

leechescover

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That’s a scale tipper, folks. With the new, appropriately titled, Awful Library Books, two Michigan librarians are bringing the old and outdated to light. From the site:

Awfullibrarybooks.wordpress.com is a collection of the worst of public library holdings.  The items featured here are so old, obsolete, awful or just plain stupid that we are horrified that people might be actually checking these items out and depending on the information.

This blog contains actual public library holdings.  No specific libraries or librarians are named to protect the guilty.  Check your shelves, it could be you.

If you read this post on my weeding project, you know I can relate. Click here (or the image below) to head on over and view the other awesomely bad selections. Thanks to the outstanding blog librarian.net for the link!

awfullibraryscreen

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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Comments

  1. tanita says

    May 20, 2009 at 7:51 am

    !!!!!!!!!!
    Hilariously bad!

  2. Fuse #8 says

    May 20, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    In defense of leeches! Actually, I’ll confess to you that my library has that exact leech book. And I’d show it to you right here and now, but the puppy is checked out! Why? Because it’s the only durn decent leech book for kids that anyone has ever done. Granted, the toenail fungus is gross. But for an old cover, I have to say that when kids take a single glance at this book they try to snatch it out of my hands like it was made of chocolate. Gross sells. Even nasty green toenail gross.

  3. Roberta Niche says

    May 21, 2009 at 9:40 am

    My favorite is part of a series about the solar system….Looking at Uranus. Hehehee. We love this title in middle school. 😉

  4. Kelly says

    May 25, 2009 at 1:04 am

    Thanks for the link to the wonderfully terrible blog!

  5. Elizabeth says

    May 25, 2009 at 10:56 am

    Is the toenail fungus related to leeches in some way? Are the leeches supposed to cure it somehow? It seems an odd design choice.

  6. Scope Notes says

    May 25, 2009 at 11:09 am

    Ha – that’s a good question. I guess I’ve never heard of leeches curing toenail fungus. Wow, I’m now realizing that I need to read this book.

  7. phantommidge says

    May 25, 2009 at 11:05 pm

    OK, I actually did a spit-take when I saw that cover! 😉

  8. Scope Notes says

    May 26, 2009 at 6:52 am

    It makes me very happy to know that I was able to induce the much-coveted spit-take. Really, that’s my only goal with this whole operation.

  9. Elizabeth says

    May 31, 2009 at 1:25 am

    Should you do so, please report back.

  10. dobre katowice says

    December 30, 2015 at 11:05 am

    t?umaczenia katowice dobre

Trackbacks

  1. Thursday Night Links « Bib-Laura-graphy says:
    May 29, 2009 at 2:01 am

    […] Ever come across a book on your library shelves that just made you cringe?  Well, these enterprising folks are collecting those awful books.  And they’re hysterical. (Hat tip to 100 Scope Notes) […]

  2. 2009 Children’s Lit: The Year in Miscellanea « 100 Scope Notes says:
    December 22, 2009 at 2:05 am

    […] Those Amazing Leeches put the Awful Library Books blog on the map, this “gastronomical delight” may have been […]

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